Activity: Personal Social Networks

Objectives:

• Build awareness of one's own social network and how it can be used in different situations
• Help kids decide whom to involve in the distribution of their flyers

Materials: Handouts of circle diagrams and professions table for each activist(download the two handout documents from the Resource Materials section of the Facilitator's Corner); markers, pens, or pencils;

Duration: 1 - 2 hours

Procedure:

Representing personal social networks

• Distribute the concentric diagram sheet handout
• Put your name in the middle of the page and fill in the diagram with the names of people you consider important in your life. The most important people should be placed closer to the center. More specifically, the people whom you look for whenever you need comfort should be in the circle close to your name; the ones with whom you interact in a regular basis should be in the intermediate circle; and the ones you interact for specific needs should be in the outer circle.
• Once the diagram is complete, underline the names of people who live in your community and put a triangle besides the name of everyone older than 18
• Ask these questions:
  o How many people are in your diagram?
  o How many of them live in your community?
  o How many of them are adults?
  o Is anyone of the participants in somebody else's diagram?
  o Who knows the person who lives the farthest away?
  o What are the main differences between people close to you in the diagram and the ones farther away in the diagram?
  o Who do you think you would like to involve in your project? Why?

Professions of the people we know

• Distribute the profession tables handout
• Think if you know anybody in each of the professions and whether or not that person is close to you or not. Write their name in the box
• Add more professions for the people you know at the end of the table
• As a group, count the number of participants who know people at the different professions. Record these numbers on a large piece of paper for the group to see
• As a group, discuss which professions you think are related to the project you want to develop. Does anyone in the group know anyone in that profession? Does the group have ways of contacting everyone they would like to involve in the project?

Comments:

• Allow time at the end of the session for activists to reflect of what has been accomplished. Don’t forget to store their diagrams in the YAN Box
• If you are uncomfortable about identifying people by name, you may just write their initials or a symbol that represents them
  

Notes from the field: One YAN group in the Charlestown Computer Clubhouse asked a pizza place to distribute a flyer with each pizza they sold. To see pictures of the Personl Social Networks flyer creation and distribution activity at Charlestown Computer Clubhouse, click here and here.

To Learn More: Refer to The Young Activist’s Network: A Beginner’s Manual for Youth-Led Social Change by Kristen Fitzhenry, January 2004.